Cubs' Arrieta wins No. 20; who will join him?

With a no-hitter already to his name, right-hander Jake Arrieta of the Cubs added another impressive accomplishment to his sparkling 2015 season: He’s the first 20-game winner in the major leagues.

Arrieta three-hit the Brewers and struck out 11 in a 4-0 victory at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night, continuing a dominant season that’s made him a Cy Young contender and helped to make the Cubs a World Series contender.

Arrieta (20-6) also lowered his ERA to 1.88 — second to Zack Greinke of the Dodgers at 1.65 — in becoming the first Cubs pitcher since Jon Lieber in 2001 to win at least 20 games in a season. He’s also made a team-record 18 consecutive quality starts, which is going at least six innings and allowing three earned runs or fewer. Only four times this season has Arrieta even allowed four earned runs in a start — and it hasn’t happened since July 16.

Arrieta reached peak dominance Aug. 30 when he no-hit the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Arrieta, 29, was a top 50-100 prospect coming up through the Orioles organization, but he posted a 5.46 ERA in 63 starts with Baltimore from 2010-2013. Since coming to the Cubs in mid-’13, Arrieta has become elite, posting a 2.33 ERA in 65 starts. Arrieta’s previous high for victories in a season was 10, in 2014 and 2011.

Arrieta might not beat out Greinke for the Cy Young, and who knows about the Cubs and the World Series, but he’s got 20 wins in the bag. While many baseball observers don’t respect wins for individual pitchers like they used to (for good reasons), it’s still a pelt Arrieta can pin to his wall. It’s something that will help him in salary arbitration and other contract negotiations. And “20-game winner” still sounds cool. Clayton Kershaw, Johnny Cueto and Adam Wainwright did it in 2014, but no one won at least 20 the season before. Four times since 2006, the season has ended without a 20-game winner in the National League. Three times since 2006, a 20-game winner hasn’t happened in the American League, including 2014.

Will anyone join Arrieta with 20 victories in 2015? There’s a chance he’ll be the only one, but if things fall right in the final days of the regular season, a few familiar names might join him.

Greinke, Madison Bumgarner of the Giants, Felix Hernandez of the Mariners and Dallas Keuchel of the Astros have 18 victories apiece and probably have two starts remaining in order to reach 20. Three pitchers have 17 victories — Gerrit Cole of the Pirates, Collin McHugh of the Astros and David Price of the Blue Jays — but it’s likely that only Cole will get a chance for 20. He is scheduled to start twice for sure, and if the Pirates need him on three days of rest, they might elect to use him on the final Sunday of the regular season. Another possibility, if they need a 163rd regular-season game, Cole might be used then.

Price is the only player in the group that’s ever won 20; for him, it happened in 2012 when he won the AL Cy Young with the Rays.

Cubs fans like Jake Arrieta. They really, really like him. (USATSI)

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